Sub-series 3. Subject Files, 1967-2015, undated

Arranged alphabetically by subject, this sub-series contains subject files collected and maintained by William A. Lester, Jr. during his tenure at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. These files provide documentation of Lester’s various activities and interests at Lawrence Berkeley.

Files concerning research conducted at Lawrence Berkeley by Lester and his colleagues for the U.S. Department of Energy make up the largest component of this sub-series. Significant numbers of files documenting Lester’s research activities at Lawrence Berkeley’s Chemical Sciences Division and his use of computing facilities at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center are also preserved in the Subject Files. Noticeable numbers of files concerning research conducted by Lester and his colleagues for the U.S. Air Force’s Rocket Propulsion Laboratory and several U.S. government agencies (including the National Science Foundation and the National Bureau of Standards) are also found here.

A variety of other topics are also covered in the Subject Files. Handfuls of files pertaining to topics of scientific interest to Lester and research conducted by other scientists (including Lester’s Lawrence Berkeley colleague Vladimir Z. Kresin) are found in this sub-series. Small numbers of files concerning other miscellaneous topics, including, but not limited to, Lester’s activities with Lawrence Berkeley’s Materials and Molecular Research Division and research he conducted at Lawrence Berkeley for the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research are preserved here as well.

The contents of the Subject Files consist of a wide variety of materials. Correspondence, proposals, notes, and reports are the most common materials found in this sub-series. Smaller, but noticeable amounts of photocopied article and paper manuscripts, articles, financial documents, and administrative forms are also present in the Subject Files. Small amounts of other miscellaneous materials, including, but not limited to, computer time requests, publications, presentations, and transparencies are preserved here as well.